The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-06-30
A DREARY COUNTRY.
Interesting Account of the Hudson Bay
Region and It's Inhabitants.

Those who have never seen fife as it
exists among the Inhabitants of the
Hudson Bay country would be aston
ished at the extent of civilization among
a class of people generally supposed to
be savages, as well as at the awful
grandeur of the scenery and forbidding
aspect of the graveyard coasts along the
shores of that northern sea. In all the
uninhabitable region of North America
there is nowhere to be found a more
bleak, desolate, o. dreary waste than
that between Ungava Bay, off the coast
of Labrador on the east, and Fort
Churchill, on the west and southern part
of Hudson Bay proper. Although little
is known vet regarding this weird and
frozen region, it has had a growth
within the last half century which has
been something phenomenal, and having
been measured according to its needs
by the God of Nature has gone on adj
vancing from age TO age, until at the
present time, not alone the more fertile
islands, but the extent of land back
from the coast on either side, is thickly
populated by people who hunt and
fish and talk and chatter even among
the misery and restitution which
life in a region of perpetual frost
and snow must bring. Hudson Bay
itself is really an island sea, extending
between latitude 81 > and Ga north,
and longitude ne and 95o west, and
while about 1000 miles long at its
greatest distance, is only about 600
miles in breadth, covering an area of
over 100000 square miles. 1t is navig-
able only for about three months in the
year-from the middle of June to tie
middle of September-and for the re-
mainder of the year is filled with drift
ice, which renders navigation, even for
a short distance, an absolute impossi-
bility. The eastern coasts of the bay
are sights to be admired, cliffs rising in
many cases to height of from 200 to
400 feet abruptly from the waters edge,
and, being composed of a glacier-like
substance which. being ever coated
with ice and frozen snow, shine in the
sunlight until it is almost impossible to
look at them for any length of time.
The residents of this section are not
properly Esquimaux, but a cross be-
tween this race and the French and
Indians, who have come in for the pur-
pose of hunting and fishing. and finally
settled down among the natives to live
as they do and share with them in the
privations which no other life affords. On
an average, in the summer months, the
thermometer stands at about As ? above,
while the temperature in the winter
runs as low as COO below zero and will
average about 25o below. Fish are
scarce and can be caught only in the
rivers, of which on the east there is
only the Great Whale, while on the
west there are the Hayes, Nelson,
Churchill, Moore, Albany, Weeknish.
Main and Abbitibbe. Seal abound in
plenty, but are extremely shy and hard
for the natives to get at, while porpoise
and walrus are equally difficult to get
hold of. Were it not for the small fur
bearing animals which are about the
shores the poor half-breeds would stand
| very good chance of perishing by
munger, as they can expect nothing in
he way of favors from the Hudson Bay
stores, a few of which are
along the coast. The natives live in
title villages composed of from fifty to
me hundred rude huts. Each commu-
lity has its place of worship and its
church burial ground, which is conse-
rated by the Moravian missionaries. a
ew of whom are to be found wander |
ng about from village to village, from
he eastern extent of the settle
nents down as far as Fort Churchill
IN the west. These faithful, beloved |
men expect no recompense for |
heir services, and if they did they
get it, for there is not in
Ill the country such a thing as money,
he only exchange being in fish. oil or
urs. Whenever one of a tribe dies the |
est of his family-meaning by that the
ntire settlement-stop work for the
lay and prepare to bury him. If the
ettlement possesses such thing rs a
Inner bell, and the most of them do, !
he Oldest man in the village goes about
rom hut to hut and rings the bell in
ront of each until the occupants come
nut, both big and little, and, falling
nto line, march after him. When the
ircuh has been made, and big and little
re all collected, march is made for |
he kirote, as it is called, the village
hurch, which consists of about an acre |
# ground simply inclosed by a wall OF |
tones near the middle of the commu-
lity. Into this little field go the entire
'opulace, and after chanting the virtues
f the dead for some hours, the corpse
5 taken away on a skin rack and
overed with ice and snow in the COM
non burial plot. The rest of the day
) spent in rejoicing. and the next day,
the deceased was married, his better
alf makes another choice, and at the
nd of week, if an agreement be come
o, the dead is forgotten and the no
Dnger Borrowing ones begin life over
gain.-COr. Pittsburgh Post.
Dust Baths for Fowls, Etc.